I'm on the verge of buying this game. I've read all the reviews I can find and among them are cries of 'It would be good if not for the balance problems'. The trouble is though that there are two camps. One claiming the Russians are over-powered with the Uranus cards and the other side saying the Germans just steam roll the Russians with cards like the 16th Panzer.

I'd normally lean towards the publisher having play tested it 100's if not 1000's of times so have it balanced enough. The people who claim balance problems I'm guessing have well under 20 plays to their name.

Are their any players out there with significant experience to have a decent opinion on the matter?

We liked it enough that even if it does turn out to be imbalanced it is fun to play. The only issue I have with it is the lack of end timer; it is possible for the game to go on endlessly (which is, admittedly, part of the 'charm'). The only variant I have thought of would be that the Soviet player wins if, at the end of any German turn, all six Uranus cards are still in play.

My rule of thumb is that if you have folks thinking it is imbalanced for both sides, it is balanced enough.

We've played four games, both sides won ... if you are not careful with your play it easy to overextend and then get 'steamrollered' - which has happened to me playing both sides.

Personally, so far at least, I prefer Lightning North Africa to Battle for Stalingrad (and yes this game really plays like the lightning series, just in a slightly bigger box). Something about Stalingrad just isn't clicking for me. Stalingrad is a grind and it definitely rewards deliberative play over 'seize the moment' strategy. Someone who enjoys chess would do well with Stalingrad.

As the previous poster said, I think if you had two deliberative players who do not take many risks the game could easily drag on for a very long time.

I've read all the reviews I can find and among them are cries of 'It would be good if not for the balance problems'. The trouble is though that there are two camps. One claiming the Russians are over-powered with the Uranus cards and the other side saying the Germans just steam roll the Russians with cards like the 16th Panzer.

I believe that existance of those "2 camps": one claiming Germans to be over-powered and the second one claiming Russians to be too strong can be explained by using different rules... ;-)

I have found two versions of the rules and there we have e.g. for the set-up:ver. A) Russians have forces worth 10 points vs. German 9 points and both sides have 5 strategy cards in their initial hand;ver. B) Russians have forces worth 11 points and 10 strategy cards vs. Germans with 9 points forces and 5 strategy cards in their initial hand;